Emerging Writers Workshop: Reading Like a Writer

Did you ever read a book and wonder how the author wrote it? There are valuable writing lessons to be learned from reading our favorite novels, memoirs, and nonfiction books. In this workshop, Alex Kourvoand Bethany Nealwill share the secrets of reading like a writer by looking into character, decoding plot, and understanding why writers make the choices they do.

This is part of the monthly Emerging Writers Workshops, which offer support, learning, and advice for local authors. Each month, two weeks after the workshop, there is a meet-up where the instructors will read samples of your work and offer advice and assistance in a casual, supportive atmosphere. Do you have a completed manuscript? Consider submitting it to the library's imprint Fifth Avenue Press: Fifth Avenue Press.

Emerging Writers Workshop: High-Concept Ideas

Getting an idea for a book is only the start. How do you develop that idea into something compelling enough to carry an entire novel, memoir, or nonfiction book? In this workshop, Alex Kourvo and Bethany Neal will discuss growing an idea, understanding genre, and the best way to make your book stand out from the others on the shelf.

This is part of the monthly Emerging Writers Workshops, which offer support, learning, and advice for local authors. Each month, two weeks after the workshop, there is a meet-up where the instructors will read samples of your work and offer advice and assistance in a casual, supportive atmosphere. Do you have a completed manuscript? Consider submitting it to the library's imprint Fifth Avenue Press: Fifth Avenue Press.

Farm Meals Mentioned in Ypsilanti Farm Diaries

The stories and recollections of Washtenaw County farm women held by the Ypsilanti Historical Society provide a record of daily life in the 19th and 20th centuries. Local author and historian Laura Bien presents research on handwritten diaries that reflect in their own words the everyday work farm women performed: gardening, harvesting, butchering, processing, preserving and cooking food for their families, supplementing the family income through the sale of eggs and produce, adapting to technological changes, and organizing work at the homestead. Laura Bien’s talk will be the jumping off point for our Summer Picnic theme: an authentic seasonal farm meal from the 1800’s. She will provide a bibliography of sources of historic local recipes we’ll use to prepare this annual shared potluck — always a highlight of the summer!

This event is in partnership with the Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor (CHAA), an organization of scholars, cooks, food writers, nutritionists, collectors, students, and others interested in the study of culinary history and gastronomy. Their mission is to promote the study of culinary history through regular programs open to members and guests, through the quarterly newsletter Repast, and through exchanges of information with other such organizations.

Celebrate National Poetry Month with Michigan Poets!

April is National Poetry Month! There is a wealth of poetry written by many authors from Michigan offered in AADL's catalog. Some items are available to download from the catalog to be enjoyed instantly! Trumbull Ave. by Michael Lauchlan and Weweni by Margaret Noodin are available to download and also in the traditional paper bound form.

Local book sellers Bookbound and Literati Bookstore have author events still to come this month with poets from Michigan.

On Thursday, April 20 at 7:00 pm award-winning Michigan poets Zilka Joseph and M.L. Liebler will be reading poems at Bookbound.

Ann Arbor author Zilka Joseph has an MFA in Poetry from University of Michigan, and she currently teaches workshops, works as a manuscript coach and editor, and mentors writers in the Ann Arbor community. She has written several books of poetry including her most recent, Sharp Blue Search of Flame

M.L. Liebler is an internationally-known Detroit poet, Wayne State University professor and literary arts activist who founded The National Writer's Voice Project in Detroit and the Springfed Arts: Metro Detroit Writers Literary Arts Organization. He has authored and edited numerous books including I Want to Be Once.

At Literati on April 21st, local poets Keith Taylor, Alison Swan, and Raymond McDaniel will be reading from their various collections, in addition to sharing some of their favorite poems, written by poets of the present and past. If the World Becomes So Bright by Keith Taylor is another instant pdf download available from the AADL catalog.

Search the catalog or the public lists to find more local poetry and enjoy a poem a day all month long!

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #618 “All Americans have something lonely about them. I don't know what the reason might be, except maybe that they're all descended from immigrants.” ~ Ryū Murakami

Two of the most anticipated debuts this fall take readers deep into the lives of immigrant families.

The Wangs vs. the World * by Jade Chang follows an Chinese-American family as it tumbles from riches to rags. Charles Wang landed in LA as a young man penniless but managed to make a fortune in cosmetics. Now in his fifties, a series of rash business choices and the 2008 financial crisis bankrupted him. Homeless (his Bel-Air mansion foreclosed) and unable to pay tuition for his younger kids, he packs up what he could in the 1950 baby-blue Mercedes that used to belong to his dead first wife, rounds up the kids and a disgruntled second wife Barbra and heads for upstate New York - to daughter Saina's renovated farmhouse.

Unbeknownst to his family, Charles has no intention of settling in the middle of nowhere. His plans is to deposit his family on Saina, and heads to China to reclaim his ancestral lands (and his dignity), lost in the communist takeover. "It turns out that the Wangs can’t function without the trappings of their now-lost lavish lifestyle, a situation that gives the road trip a decidedly wacky bent and infuses the novel with humor. " (Booklist) With each bump on the road, the Wangs might eventually come to see what matters when you think you've lost it all; and what it means to be a family.

Ann Arbor author and a O. Henry Prize winner Derek Palacio's debut The Mortifications *
is praised by Peter Ho Davies as "(a) revelatory tale of Cuba and America, of faith and family, of the spirit and the flesh,... a debut remarkable for its wise and scrupulous insight into the human heart. Palacio feelingly reminds us that all immigrants are also exiles, wounded with loss, striving to make a home even as they yearn for the one they’ve left behind.”

During the 1980 traumatic Mariel Boatlift, Soledad Encarnación took twins Isabel and Ulises and fled to the US, leaving behind husband/father Uxbal, a committed revolutionary, for the promise of a better life. Settling in Hartford, Connecticut, far from the Miami Cuban immigrant community, they began a process of growth and transformation.

While Soledad establishes herself as a court stenographer and finds romance with Henri Willems, a Dutch horticulturalist eager to cultivate Cuban tobacco; Isabel, spiritually hungry and desperate for higher purpose, becomes a nun and works with the dying; Ulises, bookish and awkwardly tall, like his father, finds an aptitude working the soil. When Soladad is stricken with breast cancer, she asks Ulises to find Isabel who has disappeared, thus setting the stage of their homecoming where Uxbal awaits.

"Palacio’s writing is deceptively simple and startlingly original, and his characters, raw, almost mythic in scope, hang on long after the last page....Searching, heartbreaking, and achingly beautiful, the novel is as intimate as it is sweeping." (Kirkus Reviews)

* = starred review

Emerging Writers Workshop: A Writer’s Best Practices

Writing is a solitary activity, but sooner or later, an author has to talk to other people. Whether meeting readers in a bookstore or a conference, or hanging out with fans (or potential fans) on social media, its important for writers to make a good impression. In this workshop, Alex Kourvo and Bethany Neal will share some memorable interactions with other authors, admit their own mistakes, and show you the best practices for navigating the world of writers and readers.

This is part of the monthly Emerging Writers Workshops, which offer support, learning, and advice for local authors. Each month, two weeks after the workshop, there is a meet-up where the instructors will read samples of your work and offer advice and assistance in a casual, supportive atmosphere. Do you have a completed manuscript? Consider submitting it to the library's imprint Fifth Avenue Press: fifthavenue.press.

Emerging Writers Workshop: Writing and Publishing Children’s Nonfiction

There’s a world of children’s books beyond picture books and easy stories. Kids also read nonfiction on every topic you can think of. In this workshop, Bethany Neal and Alex Kourvo will be joined by author Dr. Virginia Loh-Hagan, who has published numerous children’s books on everything from extreme mountain biking to how to start a dog-walking business. Virginia will share tips and tricks for writing the things kids want to know.

Dr. Virginia Loh-Hagan lives and works in San Diego, CA where she directs the Liberal Studies program at San Diego State University. She writes for the Ann Arbor-based children's non-fiction company Cherry Lake Publishing. The library also has a unique deal with Cherry Lake and our library card holders have access to digital PDF copies of their books.

This is part of the monthly Emerging Writers Workshops, which offer support, learning, and advice for local authors. Each month, two weeks after the workshop, there is a meet-up where the instructors will read samples of your work and offer advice and assistance in a casual, supportive atmosphere.

Do you have a completed manuscript? Consider submitting it to the Library's imprint, Fifth Avenue Press: fifthavenue.press.

Emerging Writers Workshop: Living a Writer’s Life

In our fast-paced world, finding time and space to write isn’t easy. Nor is it easy to conquer writer’s block, self-doubt, and distractions. In this workshop, Bethany Neal and Alex Kourvo will show you how to set up a realistic writing schedule, smash through blocks, and kick self-defeating behaviors to the curb. No matter your obstacles, it is possible to have a balanced, fulfilling writer’s life!

This is part of the monthly Emerging Writers Workshops, which offer support, learning, and advice for local authors. Each month, two weeks after the workshop, there is a meet-up where the instructors will read samples of your work and offer advice and assistance in a casual, supportive atmosphere.

Do you have a completed manuscript? Consider submitting it to the Library's imprint Fifth Avenue Press fifthavenue.press.

Emerging Writers Workshop: Bringing Your Poems to the World

Whether it’s poetry meant for publication or poetry meant for a slam competition, there are certain things that set a memorable poem apart. In this workshop, Bethany Neal and Alex Kourvo will be joined by Poet Molly Raynor, who will share tips for researching, writing, and sharing poetry, including how to add unique touches to make your poems stand out.

Molly Raynor has facilitated poetry workshops in prisons, high schools, and teen centers, and traveled the country performing spoken word. Molly co-founded RAW Talent, now the RYSE Center’s Performing Arts Program, which serves youth in Richmond, California. She has published two chapbooks. Molly recently returned to Ann Arbor after 10 years in the Bay Area to replace her mentor, Pioneer English Teacher Jeff Kass, as the Neutral Zone's Literary Arts Program Director.

This is part of the monthly Emerging Writers Workshops, which offer support, learning, and advice for local authors. Each month, two weeks after the workshop, there is a meet-up where the instructors will read samples of your work and offer advice and assistance in a casual, supportive atmosphere.

Do you have a completed manuscript? Bring your work to one of the meet-ups to be in consideration for the library’s new imprint, Fifth Avenue Press. fifthavenue.press.